Using Technology to Increase Student Engagement Inside and Outside of the Classroom Documents

Main Document

Physics education research has documented that students who are in active learning environments learn more than students in more passive learning environments. With the creation of numerous PER-based and -inspired interactive pedagogies and with digital libraries such as ComPADRE providing high-quality material to teachers, the inclusion of these new pedagogies and resources is easier than it has ever been. Even with all these materials, it is still the personal touch and expertise of a teacher that is required to meld these materials and methods together. This report describes how physics teachers at Davidson College have used a variety of pedagogies, such as Just-in-Time Teaching (JiTT) in combination with simulations, such as Easy Java Simulations, Physlets, and Open Source Physics, to generate environments that emphasize personal teacher-student interactions.

The Open Source Physics Project is generously supported by the National Science Foundation (DUE-0442581).